Kelly is a practising Roman Catholic, a member of Opus Dei[4][5][6] and regular attender at their meetings and events.[7][8] Her brother, Ronan Kelly, is a supernumerary in the Opus Dei organisation.[9] Previously, uncertainty has existed over Kelly's Opus Dei membership, partly because she herself has declined when asked to say whether or not she is a member, saying that the matter is a private one,[10] and saying only that she has received 'spiritual support' from them.[11]

In the 1997 general election, Kelly gained the seat of Bolton West from the Conservatives while heavily pregnant, and gave birth to her first son eleven days later. She gained her place in parliament as Tony Blair became Prime Minister with Labour's landslide election victory.

Kelly was assigned the task of dealing with Equitable Life after the Penrose Report into the life insurance company was published. She rejected calls for government compensation to Equitable policyholders, on the grounds that the losses arose from actions of the company rather than from any defect of regulation, and that it was still trading. Equitable policyholders continued to demand redress.

As a mother of four young children, she refused to work the long hours normally associated with such positions and refused to take a red box in the evening whilst at the Treasury.[12]

Kelly hardly ever[14] rebelled (voted) against the position of her party and in the most divisive votes over Labour's term Kelly followed the party line. She voted for the Iraq War[15] and subsequently voted against[16] an independent investigation into the run-up to the war. Kelly also voted for the introduction of tuition top-up fees[17] in a vote that saw a massive rebellion amongst Labour MPs. She also voted for the introduction of identity cards,[18] voted for replacing Trident[19] and argued against the addition of a sunset clause in part 2 of the controversial Civil Contingencies Act 2004.[20] In a free parliamentary vote on 20 May 2008, Kelly voted for cutting the upper limit for abortions from 24 to 12 weeks, along with two other Catholic cabinet ministers Des Browne and Paul Murphy.[21]

The Government's Extended Schools policy, which plans to open some schools from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and provide child-care services for working parents, has been dubbed by some as "Kelly hours" after Kelly.[22] although the National Childcare Strategy with before and after school care funded in most schools by the New Opportunities Fund pre-dated extended schools (and Ruth Kelly's ministerial tenure) by several years. The extended schools initiative is predicated on wider use of and access to schools as community resources, not just for parents and children. Her proposals in the 2005 white paper to reduce the number and influence of parent governors in Trust Schools,[23] were seen as a partial reversal of this earlier stance.

Kelly attracted considerable criticism by rejecting the proposals of the Tomlinson report on education reform for the 14–19 age group, which suggested replacing A level exams with a four-tier diploma.[24] After the 2005 election, it was rumoured that she was to be demoted back into her old post at the Treasury and although she kept her position at the DfES, she was said to have been "less than thrilled" by the appointment of Tony Blair's adviser Andrew Adonis as a Minister within her Department.[25]

On 9 January 2006, it came to light that Kelly’s department had granted permission for a man, Paul Reeve, who had been cautioned by police for viewing child pornography images and who was on a sex offenders register, to be employed at a school in Norwich on the basis that he had not been convicted of an offence. He, and an unknown number of others on the sex offenders register, were not on the DfES prohibited list, "List 99".[26] On 13 January, Kim Howells, a Minister of State at the DfES, admitted that it was he who had actually made the decision, in accordance with advice given to him by civil servants that the "person did not represent an ongoing threat to children but that he should be given a grave warning". In response to the critical media coverage surrounding the issue, Downing Street issued a statement confirming their confidence in Kelly and denying rumours that she was to be replaced.[27]

There was further controversy when it transpired that another teacher, William Gibson, 59, who had been cleared to work at Portchester School in Bournemouth despite the fact that he had been convicted in 1980 for indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl and had been previously removed from three schools. A letter from the Department for Education that suggested the Secretary of State had considered his case and found that although his past actions had been unwise and unacceptable, he had undertaken teaching work to good effect since.[28]

A notable controversy in Ruth Kelly's time at the DfES was the proposed introduction of Trust schools. The Trusts were intended to be non-profit making and to have charitable status, although they could be formed by commercial enterprises. In fact one of the early DfES-hosted seminars on the establishment of Trusts included representatives from Microsoft and KPMG.[29] But it is their ability to set their own admission arrangements that generated the most criticism.

A large number of Labour backbenchers, as well as numerous Labour luminaries like Neil Kinnock and former Education Secretary Estelle Morris, made known their opposition to the proposals and published an alternative white paper.[30] Faced with such a rebellion, the government initially stressed that it would press on with the reforms. However, new Tory leader David Cameron unexpectedly announced that these reforms were in line with Tory policies and that he would support the bill if presented in the proposed form. The government were faced with the prospect of pushing through their reforms only with opposition support and in the face of increased resistance from its own supporters.

When the Education and Inspections Bill 2006 was finally published on 28 February 2006, it contained much of what had been trailed, although most notable by its absence was any mention of "trust school". Foundation and Voluntary Aided schools were left to pick up the mantle of trust schools.

The effect of her religious viewpoint on her opinions regarding controversial scientific questions has been of concern to some scientists who have speculated that her religious views could have an effect on government policy regarding stem cell research.[8]

All four of Ruth Kelly's children started at a Roman Catholic Primary School, in Wapping, a voluntary aided school.[31] However on 8 January 2007, the Daily Mirror revealed that she had withdrawn her son from the school, and — following professional advice[32] — sent him to a preparatory school that specialises in the education of boys aged 7–13 with dyslexia and/or developmental coordination disorder.[33] Though the additional cost for specialist support outside the state sector sometimes is paid for by the local authority, Kelly stated she has not and will not seek the help of the local authority in meeting these costs.[32]

According to Ofsted inspection in 2002[34] "those with special educational needs, make particularly good progress" at English Martyrs Roman Catholic school, and that pupils generally meet "standards that are much better than those gained by pupils in similar schools". The school achieved the best exam results in the borough of Tower Hamlets[35] and among the best in the UK, with 96% of children reaching the expected standard for English, and 100% for Maths and Science.[36] The area's education authority, Tower Hamlets, also runs six special needs schools within reach of Kelly's home and responded to the controversy saying, "We are proud of the quality of education we offer to all children. We have a strong record in helping children with a wide range of learning needs to succeed."[37]

Ian Gibson, Labour MP for Norwich North, called the decision "a slap in the face for the teachers and pupils in the school the child has been taken out of".[38] However, Conservative Party leader David Cameron, whose own disabled son Ivan attended a state special needs school,[39] defended her decision, saying "People should recognise that politicians like everyone else are parents first and will act in the best interests of their children".[40]

Kelly made a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission about the Mirror's reporting of the story, but the complaint was rejected, with the PCC ruling that the story was "a matter of considerable public interest", given that she is "a Cabinet minister - who had previously been Secretary of State for Education and Skills", and "even if government policy included an acceptance of private schooling for those with special needs, the fact that the complainant did not feel that the current state system could meet her child's requirements raised questions about the nature of publicly-funded schooling and its ability to cater for children with special needs - including those whose families would not be able to pay for private schooling."[41]

On two occasions Kelly has been targeted by members of fathers' rights group Fathers 4 Justice in egg-throwing incidents. On 6 February 2006, she was to give evidence at Salford Magistrates Court in the case of Fathers 4 Justice protester Simon Wilmot-Coverdale in connection with an incident in April 2005 when an egg was thrown at her. As she left the court, she was again attacked, this time by Michael Downe; the egg smashed on the back of her head.[42] Downes was fined and given an ASBO in relation to the incident, which he proceeded to rip up outside the court, promising to continue to fight for father's rights.[43]

Kelly upholds basic Catholic positions on sexual morality, including when she became Minister for Women and Equality. She was attacked by social liberals from both BBC Radio 5 Live, and on the front page of The Independent of 10 May 2006, for holding to Catholic social teaching and not voting in favour of homosexuality since 1997 when the Labour government came to power. For instance she opposed lowering the age of consent for homosexuality, as well as voting against placing children with homosexuals for adoption. Out of fourteen votes during the Blair government surrounding the political issues of homosexuality, Ruth Kelly had only attended two.[45]

Homosexual activist Peter Tatchell attacked Kelly for being a Catholic and disagreeing with homosexuality, claiming: "Tony Blair would never appoint someone to a race equality post who had a lukewarm record of opposing racism".[46][47] In a letter published in The Times on 11 May 2006, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster voiced criticism to anti-Catholic attacks by the likes of Tatchell, who claimed that Ruth Kelly’s Catholicism might be considered incompatible with her role as Equality Minister. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor wrote "Ms Kelly may well be scrutinised for her fitness in office. That is a political judgement. But her Catholicism should not be a criterion in forming that judgement."[48]

The Observer newspaper reported on 15 October 2006 that Kelly had joined the Prime Minister in seeking to exempt churches from new laws which would force Christian churches to act against their moral teachings on homosexuality by upholding it as the same as heterosexuality.[49]Lorely Burt, the Liberal Democrat Equalities spokesperson, from a Protestant background, who opposed the right for churches to opt out if it conflicted with their beliefs, called for Kelly to be removed from the Cabinet for being a Catholic and not enforcing pro-homosexual positions on churches.[50] It was reported in January 2007 that Kelly supported an exemption for Catholic adoption agencies from new laws that would force the Church to act against its social positions by placing adoptive children with homosexuals, suggesting instead that applicants should instead be referred to other agencies.[51][52]

Ruth Kelly was appointed to the position in Gordon Brown's new cabinet on 27 June in a government reshuffle, though it had been speculated she would be removed from the cabinet. Within a few days of entering her job, she faced tough work as she was responsible for securing the public's safety through transport after some attempted terrorist attacks. She came under fire for admitting along with other Labour Ministers that she had smoked cannabis as a teenager.[57]

Kelly's support for biofuels drew criticism from activists who felt that it impoverishes third world farmers to assuage first world environmental guilt. "If people starve because of biofuels, Ruth Kelly and her peers will have killed them," wrote environmentalist George Monbiot in The Guardian. "Like all such crimes, it is perpetrated by cowards, attacking the weak to avoid confronting the strong."[58]

Ruth Kelly announced a major increase of railway capacity by providing extra trains across the country by 2010 which drew criticism for her London bias as most of the funding would be spent there.[59] Kelly gave the go-ahead in 2007 for billions of pounds of public money to be spent on the Crossrail project in London, which caused outrage amongst MPs in other cities, especially Manchester, who had been told no public transport funding will be given without a congestion charge scheme.[60]

Ruth Kelly set out proposals for a third runway and a sixth terminal at Heathrow under new extensive plans.[61] Gordon Brown admitted this was one of the biggest challenges which faced the UK Government over the coming years.[62][63]

In November 2007 it emerged that Kelly had misused part of her £10,000 communications allowance for party political material. The funds should have only been used for politically neutral material, and Kelly apologised for breaking the rules.[64]

In September 2008 Ruth Kelly announced her intention to resign from the cabinet to spend more time with her family. This ended her time as Transport Secretary and cabinet minister after four years.[65] She did not stand at the 2010 general election.[66]Damian McBride, a former senior Labour Party strategist, was shifted from being Gordon Brown's political spokesman to Number 10, after criticism of the way he handled Ruth Kelly's resignation.[67]

On 18 May 2009 Kelly became involved in the MPs' Expenses Scandal when the Daily Telegraph revealed she had claimed a total of £31,000 between 2004 and 2008 for rebuilding, refurbishing, and purchasing appliances for her second home. It was subsequently revealed on 21 May 2009 that some of this money was used to repair damage caused by a burst pipe. Kelly was insured for this damage but did not claim on that insurance after being advised by the fees office that a reasonable amount could be claimed under the allowances system.[68]